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David Swensen'
s Profile & Performance

Profile

David Swensen has been the Chief Investment Officer at Yale University since 1985. He is responsible for managing and investing the University's endowment assets and investment funds, which total over $22 billion. Realizing an annual return of more than 17.2% on his investments over the last ten years, Swensen has added more than $16 billion to Yale's coffers. Mr. Swensen also outperformed 99% of U.S.-based mutual funds.

Investing Philosophy

He is chiefly noted for having invented what has become known as The Yale Model, a mechanism for Multi-Asset Class Investing. He purposely diversifies the portfolio across a broad range including typical stocks, bonds, real estate, timber, and private investments like venture capital and leverage plans.

David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio) is responsible for managing Yale University's endowment assets and investment funds. He manages a portfolio of six stocks worth $495 million. During the first quarter, the guru traded shares in the following stocks: Read more...

David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio) is responsible for managing Yale University's endowment assets and investment funds. He manages a portfolio of six stocks worth $495 million. During the first quarter, the guru traded shares in the following stocks: More...

David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio), chief investment officer at Yale University, made two new buys in the fourth quarter, one of which was large enough to become the top stake in his portfolio – his purchase of an 8,740,871-share stake in Antero Resources Corp. (NYSE:AR). More...

David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio), the chief investment officer at Yale University since 1985, is responsible for managing and investing the university's endowment assets and investment funds, which total over $22 billion. The following are his heavily weighted trades during the fourth quarter. More...

David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio) has been the chief investment officer of Yale University's endowment fund since 1985. He is responsible for managing and investing the university's endowment assets and investment funds. Here are his most weighted stocks that got new positions or lost their positions in the portfolio during the third quarter. More...

David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio), Yale University’s chief investment officer for the last 30 years, has been a success using an investing strategy he sharpened at Yale. His personal third-quarter transactions reveal an interest in ETFs and health care-related stocks – but not exclusively. Those third-quarter transactions tend to demonstrate the diversity for which he is known. More...

In the high-flying world of investing, Lei Zhang maintains a relatively low profile. Yet since he was seeded by David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio) of Yale Endowment with $20 million in 2005, he has achieved a ~40% compounded annual return (28x not adjusting for inflation), making him one of the best-performing investment managers. To put it into perspective, Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) has achieved a compounded annual return of ~22%, albeit for the past 50 years. More...

In 30 years as chief investment officer at Yale University, David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio) has been quite successful. In the last decade, he has enjoyed an annual return of more than 17.2% on his investments. In his personal investments, Swensen applies knowledge he has gained in that role as well as in his six years on Wall Street prior to taking the job at Yale More...

In the high flying world of investing, Lei Zhang maintains a relatively low profile. Yet since he was seeded by David Swensen of Yale Endowment with $20 million in 2005, he has achieved a ~40% compounded annual return (28x not adjusting for inflation), making him one of the best performing investment managers. To put it into perspective, Warren Buffett has achieved a compounded annual return of ~22%, albeit for the past 50 years. Today, Lei Zhang’s Hillhouse Capital, named after a street nearby Yale where Lei received his MBA and master’s in public policy, manages ~$18 billion. Though not just focused on tech, Lei is best known for backing several most successful Chinese internet entrepreneurs and startups (e.g. Tencent, JD.com). On April 29, Lei paid a visit to the “Temple of Value Investing” Columbia Business School to share his investing and life lessons. Below are my summaries of his wisdom: More...

With bond yields in the gutter for these past six years, investors have grown accustomed to looking in… shall we say… “nonconventional” places for yield. Whether in odd corners of the stock market or in dodgy-looking private placements, anything offering a respectable current income is bound to get at least a little attention. More...

In the first quarter of 2015, as is frequently the case for him, guru David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio)’s stock transactions amounted to all or nothing. Not entirely, though. Swensen, the chief investment officer for Yale University since 1985, bought or sold stock in 11 companies in the quarter, and one – iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund ETF (EFA) – was a reduction in an existing stake. More...

David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio) has been the chief investment officer at Yale University since 1985. He is responsible for managing and investing the university's endowment assets and investment funds, which total over $22 billion. Realizing an annual return of more than 17.2% on his investments over the last ten years, Swensen has added more than $16 billion to Yale's coffers. Swensen also outperformed 99% of U.S.-based mutual funds. More...

The third quarter of 2014 was the least active trading quarter for guru David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio) in five years. Swensen, the chief investment officer at Yale University, traded in only five stocks in the third quarter. More...

Ask most income-seeking investors what they like best about dividend stocks, and they'll tell you the obvious answer: their current yield. But if you want to be a smarter long-term dividend investor, you have to go beyond current yields to learn the secret of dividend longevity — in order to make sure those payouts will keep coming year after year, decade after decade. That is why it is essential to evaluate each company's dividend history, payout ratio and business stability. More...

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